Taking Stock of Civil Society Expectations

Wednesday, February 21, 2024 | FES New York Office

With UN Member State negotiations now underway on both the Pact for the Future, the agreement that leaders will adopt at the Summit for the Future in September 2024, and toward the 4th International Conference on Financing for Development in 2025, the international community finds itself at a critical juncture. The need to strengthen the multilateral system – and the international financial architecture – could not be more urgent.

Robust and inclusive institutions are needed to address challenges as diverse as pandemics, climate change, artificial intelligence, stalled development, and armed conflict. However, international cooperation has wavered under the strain of the wars in Ukraine and Gaza and the feeling among developing and non-Western countries that – despite years of demands for governance reforms – their membership still carries little weight in international organizations. The Summit of the Future could be an opportunity to improve global governance and make the multilateral system fit for purpose in the 21st Century.

Against this backdrop, the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) in New York hosted an intimate breakfast roundtable discussion to allow select members of civil society to dialogue with Mr. Dirk Meyer, Director General for multilateral development policy, transformation, and climate at the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), on prospects for the Summit to renew and revitalize mulitlateralism and promote meaningful reform of the international financial architecture.